The electronic device, which includes, for example, semiconductor integrated circuits and liquid crystal display devices, is produced by forming a semiconductor element on a substrate such as glass or semiconductor. The semiconductor material, which is to be used for forming the semiconductor element, is formed as a thin film on a glass substrate or a semiconductor substrate itself. The semiconductor material is finely processed by using the lithography technique, and thus a desired semiconductor element such as a transistor is formed on the substrate.
The semiconductor integrated circuit, which is included in the electronic device, is generally formed by forming a microcircuit on a substrate (wafer) composed of silicon single crystal by using the lithography technique. In order to realize the high integration and the high speed of the integrated circuit, it is effective to microfabricate the circuit pattern in the microcircuit. The fine pattern or the micropattern is formed by using the lithography technique. At present, it is also possible to form a fine pattern having a minimum line width of not more than about 100 nm. Accordingly, a semiconductor integrated circuit, which has an operation frequency of 2 to 3 GHz, is also produced.
In recent years, it is investigated to adopt the carbon nanotube as a material for the active element such as a transistor for constructing the semiconductor integrated circuit. The electrical resistance of the carbon nanotube is smaller than that of silicon. Therefore, it is expected to realize an integrated circuit which has a higher speed and which consumes a smaller amount of electric power, as compared with an integrated circuit constructed of a transistor made of silicon.
On the other hand, the liquid crystal display device, for which the light transmittance is required, is formed on a light-transmissive substrate such as a glass substrate. The material for the transistor for controlling the brightness/darkness of the display element is a thin film semiconductor such as amorphous silicon which is uniformly formed as a film on a glass substrate. Portions of the film, other than predetermined portions thereof, are selectively exfoliated by using the lithography technique. The thin film semiconductor, which exists at the remaining portions, is processed as the transistor. After performing the steps as described above, the liquid crystal display device is produced.
The high degree of integration and the high speed operation performance, which are required to such an extent that the semiconductor integrated circuit requires, are not required for the liquid crystal display device. Therefore, no problem arises in relation to the performance including, for example, the high speed operation performance even in the case of the device constructed of the thin film semiconductor based on the use of amorphous silicon. However, in order to form the amorphous silicon on the glass substrate, the following condition is required for the glass substrate to construct the liquid crystal device. That is, it is necessary to use relatively expensive glass which endures a high temperature of about 700° C. during the film formation of amorphous silicon.
In view of the above, it has been suggested that a transistor for the liquid crystal display device is formed by arranging, for example, semiconductor crystal at a predetermined position on the glass substrate, the semiconductor crystal being previously formed at any place other than those on the glass substrate, rather than forming the film of semiconductor on the glass substrate. In this procedure, for example, a fine particulate powder of rod-shaped semiconductor crystal, which has a diameter ranging from about 100 nm to about several μm and which has a length of about several tens of μm, is formed at any place other than those on the glass substrate. The fine particulate powder is arranged while providing predetermined orientation to the fine particulate powder at a predetermined position on the glass substrate, which is used to form a transistor for controlling the display element. An idea is suggested in Non-patent Document 1 in which a fine particulate powder of semiconductor crystal is arranged at a predetermined position on a glass substrate while providing predetermined orientation to the fine particulate powder.
Non-Patent Document 1: a document known on the internet (http://www.nanosysinc.com/technology.html)